Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals have registered a convincing win over SunRisers Hyderabad in their first match in the IPL 2022.
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Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals have registered a convincing win over SunRisers Hyderabad in their first match in the IPL 2022 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Tuesday (March 29). While the batting unit performed really well and posted a huge total of 210 on the board, bowlers stepped up and successfully defend the total, winning by 61 runs as well.
However, pacer Prasidh Krishna handed over the first breakthrough and their back-to-back attacks dismantle SRH’s batting order.
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After the win, Krishna said: “There was some good bounce and seam. Hitting those hard lengths was helping me. We were speaking outside when Jos got out. He said it was tough to hit off good lengths. Tried to hit those areas. It’s usually the captain thinking from the team’s perspective, and the bowler thinking about how he’s feeling and what he can impact for the team. We get together and speak about the decision. Boulty bowled really well, the pressure he put helped me pick up a couple of wickets. Had a couple of practice games. Everybody’s had a good hit, had a good bowl.”
Meanwhile, Sanju Samson, who won the Man of the Match award for a blistering knock of 55, said: “I think it was a different wicket than what we thought. The wicket was helping the fast bowlers if you hit the typical Test match lengths. No long time goals. Happy to contribute to team’s victory. I worked on my fitness. I chose the right scoring oppurtunities. Tried to spend time in the wicket. Leaders like Sangakkara help me a lot. A lot of cricketing brains has gone in to pick the right side. This season we have come in with great dreams. Our owners take great care of us. Lot of good sides and we will take one game at a time.”
However, it was a forgettable start for SRH as well as Kane Williamson. He got out for a mere 2. While applauding Rajasthan for their immense show with both the bat and the ball, he admitted that they need to work on the loopholes and improve as a team too.
READ MORE: All-round Rajasthan Royals race to a convincing victory
Kane Williamson said: “We started beautifully with the ball, we had our opportunities. In all the games so far, there has been some swing and assistance with the new ball. You want to make some inroads, we looked very likely but unfortunately some fine margins in this game didn’t go our way. It was a very good surface, Rajasthan played outstandingly well. For us, there’s still a number of things to touch on and improve on as a side. You got to keep your chin up and move on to the next one. It (no-balls) is not something common to us, it was a surprise in a lot of ways and we certainly don’t want to do that moving forward.”
He concluded: “When you take a wicket off a no-ball, it’s never nice. It’s important for us to look at areas where we can improve. (On Umran Malik) Incredibly exciting, he’s got that raw pace, hopefully he continues to evolve as a cricketer. He’s young, got some experience last year which was really valuable and I’m sure he’ll just continue to get better. For us as a side and as a young team, we want to make sure that we stay engaged throughout, be nice and clear on what we’re trying to execute. With the bat, it was tough, the ball moved early on we needed to navigate that as well as we could. Today wasn’t our day.”
